Saturday, January 19, 2008

Canada: US on Torture List

A training manual for Canadian diplomats lists the United States amongcountries that potentially torture or abuse prisoners....The manual appears to contradict the public stance of Canada’sConservative government, which accepts assurances from the United States that itdoes not mistreat prisoners, including those at GuantánamoBay, Cuba.One Canadian, Omar Khadr, is being held there; he wascaptured in Afghanistan in 2002.

Of course, the U.S. "spokesperson" categorically denied that the U.S. tortures. This is in keeping with U.S. policy: if it looks bad, lie your way out of it.

The manual, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, is used for trainingdiplomats in how to protect Canadians detained by foreign governments fromtorture and how to handle suspicions that inmates are abused.The torturetraining program for diplomats was set up largely because of the case of MaherArar, a Syrian-born Canadian.He was detained in 2002 by United Statesofficials, who sent him to Syria after reviewing erroneous information fromCanada suggesting that he was linked to terrorist activities.A Canadianinquiry concluded that Mr. Arar was tortured while in Syrian custody. Last yearthe Canadian government paid Mr. Arar and his family 11.5 million Canadiandollars in compensation.

Government positions are for public consumption and disinformation. Training manuals are for reality. Yes, even Canada knows, and has to be careful, that the U.S. does torture people - without trial, of course.